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File Storage NAS:Selection guide

Last Updated:Jan 07, 2026

Alibaba Cloud File Storage NAS and Cloud Parallel File Storage (CPFS) offer various types of file systems. You can select one or more file systems based on your workloads to provide the necessary reliability, security, and continuity.

Selection overview

When you select an Alibaba Cloud file storage service, consider the following key factors:

  • Performance

    • If your application handles a high volume of read and write requests and requires low latency, select an Extreme NAS file system.

    • If your application processes many files and requires high throughput, select a CPFS for Lingjun file system.

  • Security and stability

    • If your data requires high stability, access control, and data encryption, select a General-purpose NAS file system.

    • If your data requires backups, select a General-purpose NAS file system or an Extreme NAS file system.

  • Capacity and scalability

    • If your data requires a large storage capacity, select a General-purpose capacity NAS file system.

    • If your data requires frequent elastic scale-out and scale-in, select a General-purpose NAS file system.

Prices vary based on the file system type and specifications. Select a file storage service that meets your needs and budget to avoid wasting resources or exceeding your budget.

Important

The storage class of a file system cannot be changed. For more information about the limits on file systems, see Limits for File Storage NAS .

File system selection

Selection reference

General-purpose NAS

Extreme NAS

CPFS

CPFS for Lingjun

Storage-optimized

Advanced

Performance

100 MB/s

200 MB/s

400 MB/s

Scenarios

Cost-sensitive file sharing workloads that have low requirements for response latency, such as database backups, log storage, Windows user directories, and Linux home directories.

Latency-sensitive file sharing workloads that require low response latency, such as data persistence for containers, AI training data storage, industrial simulation, and genetic computing.

Latency-sensitive file sharing workloads that require low response latency, such as Linux or Windows enterprise applications, container PersistentVolumes (PVs), web content management, and genetic computing.

Latency-sensitive Linux enterprise applications, CI/CD staging environments, high-performance web services, online education services, and online game services.

I/O-intensive workloads that require high throughput, high IOPS, and massive numbers of files. Examples include HPC, AI training, autonomous driving, genetic computing, film and television rendering, EDA simulation, oil and gas exploration, and weather analysis.

This service is ideal for intelligent computing scenarios, such as AIGC and autonomous driving. Currently, it is only compatible with Container Compute Service (ACS), PAI Lingjun resources, PAI general computing resources, and PAI Lingjun resources (single-tenant). Access from ECS instances is not supported.

Features

Protocols & clients

  • Protocols: NFS, SMB

  • Clients: Linux, Windows

  • Protocols: NFS, SMB

  • Clients: Linux, Windows

  • Protocols: NFS, SMB

  • Clients: Linux, Windows

  • Protocol: NFS

  • Client: Linux

  • Protocols: POSIX, NFS

  • Client: Linux

  • Protocols: POSIX, NFS

  • Client: Linux

  • Protocol: POSIX

  • Client: Linux

Storage capacity

0 to 10 PiB

0 to 1 PiB

0 to 1 PiB

100 GiB to 256 TiB

3.6 TiB to 1 PiB

3.6 TiB to 1 PiB

10 TiB to 1 PiB

Maximum number of files

1 billion

1 billion

1 billion

500 million

  • Versions earlier than CPFS 2.3.0: 1.4 billion

  • CPFS 2.3.0 and later: 4 billion

  • Versions earlier than CPFS 2.3.0: 1.4 billion

  • CPFS 2.3.0 and later: 4 billion

10 billion

Performance

Average 4 KB single-stream read latency

10 ms

2 ms

2 ms

  • Standard: 1.2 ms

  • Advanced: 0.3 ms

0.6 ms

0.4 ms

0.25 ms

Average 4 KB single-stream write latency

10 ms

2 ms

2 ms

  • Standard: 1.2 ms

  • Advanced: 0.3 ms

0.8 ms

0.6 ms

0.6 ms

Throughput (peak)

  • Initial read/write throughput: 150 MB/s

  • Throughput growth rate: 0.15 MB/s per GiB

  • Read limit: 10 GB/s

  • Write limit: 5 GB/s

  • Initial read/write throughput: 300 MB/s

  • Throughput growth rate: 0.3 MB/s per GiB

  • Read limit: 20 GB/s

  • Write limit: 5 GB/s

  • Initial read/write throughput: 600 MB/s

  • Throughput growth rate: 0.6 MB/s per GiB

  • Read limit: 20 GB/s

  • Write limit: 5 GB/s

  • Standard: Read + Write 1.2 GB/s

  • Advanced: Read + Write 4 GB/s

Read + Write 20 GB/s

To increase the throughput capacity, submit a ticket.

  • Read limit: 400 GB/s

    Up to 2 TB/s. To increase the read throughput capacity, submit a ticket.

  • Write limit: 200 GB/s

Maximum IOPS

15,000

30,000

30,000

200,000

1,500,000

2,800,000

  • Read: 6,800,000

    Up to 30,000,000. To increase the read IOPS, submit a ticket.

  • Write: 2,300,000

Scalability

Scale-in

Support

Support

Help and support

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Scale-out

Support

Support

Supported

Support

Support

Supported

Supported

Scaling method

Automatic scaling

Automatic scaling

Automatic scaling

Manual scaling

Manual scaling

Manual scaling

Manual scaling

Scaling step size

4 KiB

4 KiB

4 KiB

1 GiB

  • China (Ulanqab): 2,400 GiB

  • Other regions: 1,200 GiB

10 TiB

You can create a file system of up to 5 PiB. If needed, submit a ticket.

Security

Server-side encryption

Support

Support

Support

Support

Support

Supported

Not supported

Encryption in transit

Support

Supported

Support

Not supported

Support

Support

Not supported

AD domain control (SMB)

Support

Support

Support

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

ACL-based access control

Support

Support

Support

Not supported

Support

Support

Not supported

Stability

Quotas

NFS

Support

Support

Support

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

SMB

Support

Support

Support

Subdirectory mounting

NFS

Support

Support

Support

Not supported

Support

Support

Not supported

SMB

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Recycle bin

Support

Support

Support

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Lifecycle management

Support

Support

Support

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Backups

Support

Support

Support

Support

Support

Support

Supported

Snapshots

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

  • Standard: Not supported

  • Advanced: Supported

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Locally redundant storage

Supported

Support

Support

Support

Support

Support

Support

Zone-redundant storage (Multi-AZ)

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Support

Not supported

Not supported

Cost

Pay-as-you-go (USD/GiB/month)

0.06

0.13

0.30

  • Standard: 0.30

  • Advanced: 0.30

0.83

1.4

0.244

Resource plans

Support

Support

Support

Support

Support

Support

Not supported

SCU

Support

Not supported

Support

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Storage plans

New purchases not supported

Not supported

New purchases not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

Subscription

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

New purchases not supported

New purchases not supported

New purchases not supported

Not supported

Note

The pay-as-you-go prices in the preceding table are for reference only and reflect the pricing in Chinese mainland regions as of July 18, 2024. The actual prices in the Chinese mainland and other regions are subject to the latest prices on the official pricing pages. For more information about NAS file system billing, see NAS Pricing. For more information about CPFS file system billing, see CPFS Pricing.